Waste Prevention for Energy Storage Devices Based on Second‐Life Use of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Abstract

The last decade has seen a dramatic global uptake of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) from consumer electronics to use in electric vehicles (EVs) and grid storage. With this intensive large-scale deployment, it presents a real problem as these LIBs reach end-of-life (EoL) where most LIB waste is ending up in landfills. Part of this problem is related to the lack of infrastructure to collect, sort, and transport battery waste to facilities specifically designed to recycle different LIB chemistry wastes. Given the valuable metals and battery materials in spent LIB and the enormous demands to supply future LIBs, waste LIBs are seen as a valuable commodity in addition to mining these metals from crude ore bodies. In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on sustainability and closed-looped manufacturing where LIBs are a technology that could meet these requirements. To further maximize the lifetime and energy used to manufacture LIBs, the second-life application of (EV) LIBs is seen as another opportunity to maximize the full potential of these batteries before they need to be recycled. The use of second-life batteries would minimize the challenges currently faced by recycling industries and provide a stop-gap opportunity to generate sufficient quantities of waste LIBs needed for recycling to be cost-effective and a sustainable industry. However, for EoL LIBs to be used in second-life applications, several issues need to be resolved for this technology to see widespread use. Second life is considered possible because the EoL of an LIB in EVs is defined as when the energy it can store is reduced to 80% of the capacity it could when new, which is expected to take 8–15 years. However, for EoL LIBs to be used in second-life applications, several issues need to be resolved for this technology to see widespread use. These issues revolve around the economics, such as the cost of acquiring EoL batteries; the costs of disassembling and reassembling batteries to either pack, module, or cell level; and keeping the costs down to maintain a cheap end product. A separate challenge is measuring the state of health, which covers aspects of the battery's performance like capacity, current rates, internal resistance, and battery safety. State of health measurements need to be quick, cheap, and accurate for second-life batteries to be considered reliable. This chapter will explore the history, current implementations, challenges, and possible solutions for second life to succeed within a circular economy.